


Infinitesimal

by InkCaviness



Series: kyouhaba week [6]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Light Angst, M/M, Space Battles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-20
Updated: 2015-09-20
Packaged: 2018-04-22 15:08:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4840091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkCaviness/pseuds/InkCaviness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The ground sways under Shigeru’s feet as he hurries down the hallway and he almost trips, just barely manages to brace himself against the wall. The blaring alarm is beating against his eardrums, starting to make his head hurt but he keeps going, running down the hallway that’s only lit up by a piercing red emergency light.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Infinitesimal

**Author's Note:**

> FINALLY i finished day 6 of [kyouhaba week](http://inkcaviness.tumblr.com/post/128979362208/kyouhabaweek-kyouhaba-week-september-13th-to), the prompt was "future"!!! i'm really sorry for being so late but i had literally no time the last two days... also this will be my last fic for kyouhaba week since there was no prompt for day 7 and i'm far too uncreative and tired to still come up with something else
> 
> title from infinitesimal by mother mother!

The ground sways under Shigeru’s feet as he hurries down the hallway and he almost trips, just barely manages to brace himself against the wall. The blaring alarm is beating against his eardrums, starting to make his head hurt but he keeps going, running down the hallway that’s only lit up by a piercing red emergency light. Under his breath he mutters a curse when the ground sharply tilts to the left. His feet slip away from underneath him and he hits the floor sideways but immediately pushes himself back up and continues running. On his way to the control room he passes by one of the research halls and stops, staring through the giant windows that stretch climb up all the way to the ceiling.

 

The blinking, red light reflects in the glass, bleeds together with shining stars splattered across an endless expanse of darkness. In terrifying silence a ship floats there, too close to their own, unmoving, and Shigeru is frozen at the sight of a vessel that’s at least twice the size of their ship. For a moment everything seems to stand still, the alarm fades to a dull background noise, and Shigeru feels light, a little lost in the empty hall with walls that tower far over his head.

 

Then blinding light explodes before his eyes and he stumbles backwards, excruciating pain piercing through his head. At first the absence of sound makes it seem like a nightmare that he can just wake up from and then something hits the hull of their ship and the shock waves that ripple through the floor make him fall backwards.

 

He gets back to his feet and turns away from the window, turning down into the hallway that leads to the control room. This hallway is lively than the part of the ship that he came from, a young woman in bunny print pyjamas carrying a tool box skits past him in the direction of the main engine. He turns the last corner and finally the control room opens up before him. There are far less people here than there should be, only a few crewmembers manning the computers, typing furiously. Oikawa stands by the control board, his back turned to the door and Shigeru walks towards him with quick strides.

 

“Captain,” he greets and brings his hand up to his head in a salute when Oikawa turns around to him. Oikawa waves him off before he can even completely stand at attention.

 

“At ease,” he says, his voice sounding tired and his face twisted in an usually grim way, “You know I don’t care about that.”

 

Shigeru complies, even he has o admit that all the formalities are a little ridiculous considering that he’s known Oikawa since high school.

 

“What’s going on here?” he asks instead.

 

Oikawa just shakes his head and glances at the control board. His shoulders drop for a second but then he takes a deep breath and his head snaps back up.

 

“A ship attacked us without warning. We don’t know who they are, their ship is unmarked, but they’re definitely strong.”

 

Shigeru swallows down a knot in his throat and nods in understanding. They aren’t supposed to fight; their ship wasn’t made for battle, after all this is just a research mission.

 

“What do we do?”

 

He can see Oikawa grit his teeth, his lips turning downwards in a bitter scowl.

“We try to sit it out and wait for backup. I don’t like it, but there’s no way we’re equipped to fight back.”

 

Something in Shigeru’s stomach twists painfully. Waiting for backup is a big risk, from what he’s seen their ship has already taken enough hits to severely damage the hull and probably parts of the engine too. If they don’t do something fast there’s a big chance they won’t get out of this alive.

 

“What can I do to help?”

 

For a second Oikawa hesitates, glances around the control room at the abandoned computers and Shigeru is sure that he’s gonna get assigned to take over the communication. He digs his fingernails in the palm of his hand and bites down hard on the inside of his cheek. He wants to do something, something other than type messages into a computer, but he knows that this is important too.

 

“I need you to find Kyoutani.”

 

Confused Shigeru blinks at Oikawa, his eyes wide, eyebrows raised in surprise.

 

“Kyoutani?”

 

“He ran off alone again, armed, and I don’t think he’ll follow my orders to stay out of trouble.”

 

 _Of course he wouldn’t,_ Shigeru thinks, _Kyoutani doesn’t take orders from anyone other than Iwaizumi._ But Iwaizumi isn’t here now, and Oikawa can’t leave the control room.

 

“Where did he go?”

 

“The engine room, probably. That’s where we were hit first.”

 

Shigeru nods in understanding. Kyoutani always has to jump headfirst into trouble, no matter what it is or what he’s told, but this time it could be fatal.

 

“I’ll get him back.”

 

Oikawa shoots him a grateful smile just as something on the control board starts beeping and he has to turn back around to check it. Shigeru wastes no time to leave the control room and jog down the hallway that leads to the engine room, a giant hall filled with a maze of stairs and small metal walkways and the constant stench of motor oil. A majority of the crew members is here, most still in their pyjamas, hurrying around between the machines. Shigeru doesn’t know much about this, he can’t even help here and so he straightens his back and starts his search for the escaped Mad Dog.

 

Looking around, searching, he jogs through the hall and when he spots the girl with the bunny print pyjamas again he lightly taps her on the shoulder. There’s a dark smudge on her cheek now and her hair looks even messier than before but she stops her work anyway and turns to listen to him.

 

“Have you seen Kyoutani?” he asks, then pauses when the girl looks confused. This isn’t their old ship, he reminds himself, no one knows Kyoutani’s name here.

 

“Ah,” he starts again, “He’s little shorter than me and his hair is really short and bleached except for two dark stripes over his ears.”

 

That brings a look of recognition to the girls face and she quickly nods her head, gesturing down one of the hallways that lead out of the engine room.

 

“I think I saw him over there earlier. Good luck.”

 

With that she gives him one last sympathetic smile before turning back to her work.

 

Shigeru mutters a thank you and quickly makes his way over to the hallway. It leads down to a flight of stairs and Shigeru curses under his breath. This is bad, he thinks, this is really bad.

 

The stairs lead him down deeper and deeper into the ship, yellow neon lights flickering on the ceiling and not a single other crewmember anywhere in sight. After what seems like hours of steep steps the stairs finally end at a heavy metal door. When Shigeru pulls it open the temperature drops immediately and the drift of cold air that wafts out of the room behind the door makes a shiver run down his spine. It’s dark in there and he can’t see anyone else down here but when he steps through the door he can make out a light at the far end of the hall. The cargo hall.

 

He’s not supposed to be here, he thinks, he should get back to the control room.

 

But he can’t, he can’t go back now that he’s so close to finding Kyoutani and so he takes a deep breath to steel himself and starts walking towards the light.

 

It’s dangerous to be so low in the ship, especially in the cargo hall where the ship’s hull is the thinnest. They aren’t a cargo ship or even a battle ship, they’re just out here for research and there’s not much down here to protect. Only the engine room and research labs have extra protection and there’s a special security ceiling between the cargo room and the upper decks so if the hull will break anywhere it will be here.

 

Shigeru can feel waves of nausea rise up from his stomach every time the ship takes another hit.

 

Suddenly a hand wraps around his ankle and he’s pulled down to the ground behind a large metal box. His heart is racing in his chest when a hand clamps down over his mouth and the back of his head is pressed against burning cold metal. Then his eyes start to adjust to the dark and he can make out a familiar hock of bleached hair. Kyoutani’s face is mere centimetres from his own, frowning as always as he presses a finger to his lips. Shigeru nods in understanding and Kyoutani slowly pulls back his hand. When he can breathe freely again Shigeru’s shoulders relax a bit and he shoots Kyoutani a confused look. He doesn’t get a reply; Kyoutani just insistently presses his finger against his lips again and jerks his head in the direction of the light that Shigeru saw earlier.

 

Shigeru shifts so he’s kneeling with his back to Kyoutani and carefully peers around the corner. Now he can see shadows moving through the light, human shadows, and when he strains his ears he can hear hushed voices but they’re too quiet for him to make out what they’re saying.

 

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

 

Shigeru hisses the words at Kyoutani who’s quick to hush him with a panicked look on his face but not fast enough.

 

“Did you hear that?”

 

This time Shigeru can clearly hear the voice, too human for his liking, and too close. Humans are dangerous, probably one of the most dangerous species out here. Pirates, Shigeru thinks, if these people are pirates they’re fucked.

 

“Run!”

 

In a swift movement Kyoutani heaves him up to his feet and starts running, pulling Shigeru along, towards the door leading to the stairs. Before they can reach the door Shigeru hears gunshots behind them. There’s a grunt on his left but by now Shigeru has regained his coordination and he grabs Kyoutani’s hands, entwining their fingers, and takes the lead by pulling Kyoutani towards the door. Another salve of gunshots echo through the hall but before it even finishes they reach the door.

 

Shigeru pushes it shut behind himself and finds a row of latches attached to it on their side and with a relieved sigh he shuts them before turning to Kyoutani who’s sitting on the ground next to the door, leaning back against the wall, one hand pressed to his shoulder. His face his twisted in pain and Shigeru’s heart jumps up into his throat. Slowly he kneels down in front of Kyoutani.

 

“It’s okay,” his voice breaks a little on the second word but he keeps going anyway, “Oikawa called for backup, it’ll be okay.”

 

Kyoutani peers up at him through hazy eyes and long eyelashes and nods weakly.

 

“’Course,” he rasps out, “No way you’re getting rid of me that easily.”

 

A dry laugh escapes Shigeru and something wet runs down his cheeks. He brings one of his hands up to his face and his fingertips come away with tears sticking to them.

 

“Okay, okay, let’s get you back to the control room.”

 

Carefully he motions for Kyoutani to sit up. Kyoutani manages to stand up, one arm slung over Shigeru’s shoulder and leaning against him heavily. Shigeru just hopes that the door holds as they slowly make their way up the stairs. By the time they get to the engine room Kyoutani is breathing heavily and he’s dragging his feet.

 

“Come on,” Shigeru tells himself that he doesn’t sound pleading, “I know you can do this.”

 

Kyoutani nods jerkily and they limp through the engine room. An older man moves towards them, about to take the weight off Shigeru’s shoulder but he waves him off. Shigeru knows that everyone here has an important job to do right now and he can surely carry Kyoutani on his own.

 

And you don’t like other people touching him anyway, a sly voice that sounds scarily familiar whispers in his head. He shakes it off and continues walking, Kyoutani becoming more of a dead weight at his side with every step. They finally reach the control room and Shigeru pushes open the door to find Oikawa still standing in the middle by the control room. There’s look of relief on their captain’s face when he spots them that soon turns into something scary when he spots the blood staining Kyoutani’s shirt. With a few quick strides he walks over to them just as a woman in the white clothes of the medics appears by Shigeru’s side and motions for Kyoutani to sit down.

 

“What happened?” Oikawa asks, his voice tense and probably harsher than intended.

 

Shigeru is just about to answer but Kyoutani beats him to it, even though the medic has started examining his shoulder.

 

“Two of them got into the cargo room.”

 

Oikawa sharply sucks in a lungful of air and his eyes harden.

 

“But we managed to lock the door, I don’t think they can get out,” Shigeru quickly adds.

 

It looks like Oikawa is about to reply when the control board starts beeping again and their captain turns on his heel, almost runs over to the control board and then stares at something outside the window. Shigeru looks up too and at first all he sees is darkness, then, slowly a giant ship appears, heading right towards them. It’s even bigger than their attacker’s ship, clearly made for battle, and deathly quiet. Familiar. Shigeru knows this ship, knows it better than any other ship.

 

“Hajime.”

 

Oikawa turns back around to them with a smile spreading over his face, a real one for once, and the relief in his eyes is unmistakable.

 

“It’s gonna be okay,” Shigeru breathes out.

**Author's Note:**

> i was thinking about killing someone in the end but then i thought "nahhh iwa-chan saves the day" mainly bc that way it was shorter and i'm so so tired and i have class tomorrow morning. also i would literally have enough time to turn this into a 50k fic but. i have no time. sorry. (maybe one day though)
> 
> come yell at me on [tumblr](http://inkcaviness.tumblr.com) please


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